THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 19 



seconded by the district ofl&cials when 

 once I had formed my plan for defend- 

 ing our passes, and got leave from my 

 chief at Mangalore to carry it out. 



I enlisted one hundred and fifty 

 matchlock men in the forest villages 

 lying along the crest of the Northern 

 Ghauts, — men who were the descend- 

 ants of feudal retainers of the Mahratta 

 chiefs of old days, — keen shikaries, 

 familiar with forest life, and priding 

 themselves on the semi-military charac- 

 ter of their associations. They were 

 called sheiksendies, and a portion of 

 them were employed as village con- 

 stables under the potails, or heads of 

 villages, whose forefathers during Mah- 

 ratta rule had themselves been Des- 

 saies, or petty chiefs. Probably Phond 



